You want an impulse buy story. I don't think there is enough space on this site, so how about I tell you the most recent. Thumbing through the plant encyclopedia one day, I saw a picture of a gorgeous flower. It belonged to a plant called Serruria, a member of the Protea family. I read the description and culture info, decided that it probably wouldn't thrive here and that was that. Until one day, tooling around on the web, I found a site offering that plant. I almost succumbed, but held strong and reluctantly didn't order it. At the recent SF Flower and Garden Show, I was drooling over the orchids and happened to glance down on the floor and what did I see? Yep, a Serruria, in bloom, in an 8" pot for only $20. Without a second thought, I snatched that puppy up, handed away my money, and walked on cloud nine the rest of the day. I had the coveted Serruria!!!! Now, I'm home. My Serruria is sitting in it's pot in the sunshine while I kick myself in the head for buying the damn thing. It can't have any phosphorus in it's soil, which means it can't be planted in the ground, I can't use potting soil, so I'll have to tote home a bunch of sacks of decomposed granite. It grows to a decent size which means it needs a good sized container, like maybe a 1/2 barrel. I have no room to add another 1/2 barrel in the yard, which means I have to make room somewhere. I shouldn't have bought it. I knew better, but I just couldn't stop my hand from reaching out and grabbing the dammed brass ring. Arrrrggggggghhhhhhhh wanda

Unfortunately here in Puerto Rico Handi-Vac is not yet at Kmart, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, stores. I purchased one with 3 bags in Ebay for $15.00. I read many of you got them for $10.00. I have friends in the States who can buy for me the kit and the bags. Can anyone tell me how much really cost the gallon size box of (9) and which retail store have them? Please advice. Just to try the quality of the bags, I opened and re-sealed the same bag several times just to see if they are really re-usable. Guess what! They re-seal just like the new ones. To save bags, I recommend placing the content first inside an ordinary ziplock bag, leave it just partially open and then vacuum it inside a Handi-Vac bag. The bag will remain clean.

moccasinlanding, I have a lot of architect friends & my hubby is a contractor...so I'm all set on the resources - it's more a matter of time I think & finding the right house that's in the right setting. We are considering building my dream home, but again it's a matter of the amount of energy I have doing it. I have certain "requirements" that I just can't seem to find altogether. I don't want to live in a development. I want a small wooded, very private lot. I'm sure it's out there & that I will find it. I would really like to live in our Finger Lakes region of NY, but of course THAT issue is commute time for hubby, especially in the winter. He's 9 yrs younger than me, so he's a lot further away from retirement than I am. I like Sarah Susanka & she has been a breath of fresh air in architecture & her philosophy. But a lot of her houses are still too big. And she has really gotten into the sustainability thing, which is fine, but I just don't see her evolving in the thread of thought that I am. I've found 100's of floorplans on houseplans.com in the 1500-1700 sq ft range that I want...none are as good as mine LOL...but I enjoy looking at floorplans & architecture & houses for sale, etc. and I could see many of those homes integrated in what I have in mind as a "community" for the lack of a better word. It's kind of a hobby extension of my interior design work I guess. With my illness & age, my interest has taken on a new dimension...beyond my own... with affordable & desirable - what I call the "New Desirable" housing for seniors as kitykat has expressed so well. We don't want to live in old people's homes or "retirement communities" as they are now. I'm in this exploration stage since I'm newly semi-retired in the last couple months, & I'm not sure how far I'll take this vision for me & others in the same situation. But I think it will be an interesting journey. And I love hearing that others are thinking like me & kitykat. We may just start a revolution LOL ...or at least an evolution. We'll see... ~Jeana

You and those cup pulls were meant for each other! When we decided to move the stove to the opposite of the kitchen (in order to vent the hood to the outside), I had a glass front cabinet built to slide into the space vacated by the hood. I found a 30x30" piece of marble (on craigslist), to top a 30" base cabinet, left from our bathroom remodel, which would slide into the space vacated by the 30" stove. The new cabinets would be painted to match the existing cabinets. Easy-peasy, no muss-no fuss, right? Shortly before we were to move the stove, while browsing craigslist (bad habit, that), I found two runs of vintage cabinets that had been salvaged from an old high school. When I read the measurements, I knew that one run was perfect for my kitchen. We bought both runs, completely replacing the wall of cabinets in the kitchen, and installing the second one on a blank wall in the dining room. They had to be repaired, reinforced, and painted, but they look as if they've always been there. The glass-front cabinet that I'd had built for the baking area fit perfectly over the 30" fridge, and I was able to re-use the orphaned bathroom base cabinet as built-in storage in an upstairs bedroom. I've re-used every door and drawer from the old cabinet run--I love finding new uses for salvaged materials.